Adjustable chair.



H. N. AULT.

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, I9I6.

1,238,078.' A PantedAug 28,1917.

f7@ fa HARVEY 1v. AULT, or SEATTLE, wAsHiNGreN.

ADJUSTABLE cHAiR.

rasante.

Application led June 6, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARVEY N. Autor, citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Chairs, of which the following is Va specilication.

My invention relates to improvements in adjustable chairs, and the object of my invention is to provide a chair whose seat and back shall be adapted to co-act automatically to adjust themselves to conform to different relative positions of a persons back and legs in response to changes in such relative positions, and whose seat shall be pro,- vided with an eXtensible leg-rest that shall be adapted automatically to be extended from the front edge of said seat in response to a change in the angular position of vsaid seat with respect to said back.

I accomplish this object by means illustratcd in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a chair embodying my invention; Fig. 2 iS a view in front elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a view of the same in vertical section on broken line ae, m of Fig. 2; and Fig. l is a vie'win cross-section on broken line y, g/ of Fig. 3 of parts of the same.

Referring to the drawings, throughout which like reference numerals designate like parts, oppositely disposed side frames are rigidly united by chair rungs 5, 6 and 7, each of said frames consisting of two crossed legs, two upright studs and an arm rail, as crossed legs 8 and 9, crossed legs 10 and 11, upright studs 12 and 13, upright studs 11 and 15 and arm rails 16 and 17 respectively, all of which legs, studs and arms are fastened together to form a rigid chair frame.

A chair-back 18 is disposed with its lower end` portion between the rearward upright studs 12 and 111, to the upper end portions of which it is pivotally attached by pivots 19 and 20, whereby it isfulcrumed at a point that is at a distance of about one third of its length from its lower end, (as shown more clearly in Figs. 1 and 2) thereby to adapt it to be disposed in different angular positions with respect to a horizontal plane.

Articulated to the lower end portion of the chair-back 18 is the rearward end portion of a seat 21 whose forward end portion is supported by its slidable engagement Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 28, 191.7.

serial no. 102,104.

with the upper end surfaces of the oppositely disposed legs 8 and 10 whereby said seat 21 may be disposed in different angular positions with respect to said chair back 18 in response to changes in the angular position of said chair-back 18.

Secured to the inner side surface of each of the oppositely disposed arm rails 16 and 17 is a block (as blocks 22 and 23 respectively) which serves to engage with the rearward end portion of the seat 21 to limit the upwardly swinging movement of said seat 21. Thus the chair-back 18 and said seat 21 may be moved only to positions indicated by full lines and by broken lines in Fig. 3 and to different angular positions therebetween.

Slidably attached to the underside of the seat 21 is a board 2st, normally disposed to eXw tend rearwardly from the front edge to the central portion of said seat 21; and to the forward portion of the underside of said board 24 is fastened an angular bracket 25 to which is rigidly secured yone end of a metal rod 26 which is disposed to extend rearwardly through an oblong hole 27 that eX- tends through another angular bracket 28 that is secured to the underside of the rearward half of said seat 21, and surrounding said rod 26 in that portion of it between the brackets 25 and 28 is a helical compression spring 29 whose stored energy tends forcibly to slidably move the board 24 to project it forwardlyfrom under said seat 21 to a position to adapt itV to serve as a rest for the legs of a person who may be 'sitting on the seat 21.

The rod 26 on its underside, in the central part of that portion of it that normally is disposed to extend rearwardly from the bracket 28, is cut away to form a catch that normally engages with the rearward top edge of a transversely disposed metal cross'- bar 30 whose ends are secured to the under side of the seat 21 at the opposite side edges thereof, asv shown more clearly in Fig. 3,

ywhereby said rod 26 is normally locked in its rearwardmost position to prevent the helical spring 29 from forcing the board 24 out wardly from its normal position under the seat 21.

The underside of the rearward end of the rod 26 is beveled to adapt it to make a cam-like engagement with a` bracket 31 which is secured to the lower portion of the back side of the chair-back 18, rwhen the top portion of said, chair-back 18 is moved to swing backwardly and downwardly to a position near its position indicated by broken lines in Fig. 3, which cam-like engagement will operate to spring upwardly the rearward end of said rod 2G to release the catch thereof from its engagement with the top rearward edge of said cross-bar 30 thereby to permit the helical spring 29 to exert its stored energy forcibly to project the board 24 forward from its normal position under the seat 21.

Thus when the movable parts of the chair are disposed in positions shown in Fig. 1, a person sitting therein may lean backwardly to rest at a desired one of different angles with his feet resting upon the floor; and if he desires he may straighten his legs and body to cause the chair-back 18 and seat 21 to assume the positions shown by broken lines in Fig. 3, which actwill cause the brackets 31 to engage with the rearward end of the rod 26 to spring such rearward end upwardly to release its catch, thereby to permit 'the helical spring 29 toy force the board 24 to project forwardly to serve as a leg rest in the position indicated by said broken lines in Fig. 3, the rod 26 being provided with a transverse pin 32 that may engage with the rearward side of the bracket 28 to limit the forward movement of said rod 26 in an obvious manner.

In order to replace the board 24 in its normal position under the seat 21'it is only necessary to exert the pressure of ones hand on its front edge and force it inwardly against the pressure of the helical spring 29 until the catch on the underside of the rod 26 engages with the cross-bar 30, which operation can be effected only 'when the chairback 1S is raised to swing it forward to a position that is at an angle with relation to the position of the seat 21.

Manifestly, changes may be made in the forms, dimensions and arrangement of parts of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

What I claim is: f

1. A chair of the class described which embodies a supporting frame, a chair back disposed between the rearward parts of said supporting frame and pivotally attached to the top portion thereof, a chair seat having its rearward end portion articulated to the bottom end portion of said chair back and disposedwith its frontward end portion in slidable engagement with the top surface of the forward parts of said supporting frame,

a leg rest slidably attached to the under side of said chair seat and normally disposed with its front edge adjacent to the front edge of said chair seat, a bracket secured to the under side of said chair seat adjacent to the rearward edge of said leg rest, a metal rod having one of its ends rigidly connected with the under side of the front portion of said leg rest to extend rearwardly therefrom to, through, and beyond said bracket, the rearward end portion of said rod being provided with a catch, a detent secured to the under side of said chair seat and adapted Y to engage with said catch normally to preu vent the forward movement of said metal rod, elastic means associated with said rods and adapted to exert force that tends to move said rod in a forward direction, and a bracket attached to the lower end portion of said chair back in a position to engage with and move the rear end of said rod to a position to disengage said catch from said detent in responseto a forward movement of the lower end portion of said chair back.

2. A chair of the (class described including a frame, a back pivotally mounted thereon, a seat portion pivoted to said back and slidable on the frame, a leg rest slid ably associated with the seat portion, cooperative means carried by the seat and leg rest for holding the leg rest normally re tracted beneath the seat, and cooperating means carried by the back and aforesaid means for automatically releasing the leg rest when the chair back and seat are moved to reclining position.

3. A chair of the class described including a frame, a back ,pivotally mounted thereon, a seat portionpivoted to said back and slidable on the frame, a leg rest slidably associated with the seat portion, a bracket secured to the chair bottom and leg rest, a rod fixed to one of the brackets and movable relative to thel other bracket, an expansion coil spring surrounding the rod between the brackets, means carried by the seat adapted to engage the rod to hold the leg rest retracted, and means carried by the chair back adapted to engage the rod to rclease the same.

In witness whereof, l hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day of May A. D. 1916.

HARVEY N. AULT..

Witnesses:

FRANK -WARREN7 O. JOHNSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of .'iatentst Washington, 1).(J. y 

